HistoryThe original site of the City of La Paz was actually some distance away from its present day location. The town of Laja now occupies the place where Captain Alonzo de Mendoza founded ‘La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz’ on October 20th, 1548. The harsh climate and high winds soon moved the settlers (in a matter of days) onto the present day site of the Choqueyapu Valley. The area was already home to an Aymara mining village but the conquistadors, used to taking what they wanted, enslaved the local population making them work for them. The valley, which is actually a canyon, provided more protection from the elements but, more importantly, the gold deposits in the Rio Choqueyapu contributed to the Spanish treasury and its strategic location along the main gold and silver transport routes ensured it continued to flourish even when the gold started to run out. The mostly male Spanish settlers soon started to mix with the local population which produced a mestizo (mixed white and indiginous) population.
In November 1549 Juan Gutierrez was tasked by Spain to design a city plan in accordance with the ‘Code of the Indies’ which regulated how Spanish colonial cities were to be constructed. What is today known as Plaza Murillo was chosen as the site for the cathedral and the government buildings where they remain today.
During the 1600’s the gold started to run out but La Paz still continued to grow due to its location between silver rich Potosi to its south and Lima to the north.
In 1781, led by Tupac Katari, a group of Aymara rebels laid siege to the city for 6 months and caused damage to a number of government buildings and churches. This uprising was eventually stopped but some 30 years later another group of indigenous locals held siege to the city for 2 months.
In 1825 Bolivia gained independence from Spain and Simon Bolivar was named as the first president and the country of Bolivia was born. Five departments were created (La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí, Charkas and Santa Cruz de la Sierra) and although Sucre was declared the capital, La Paz and Potosí remained the most important cities.
With independence established the city continued to flourish during the 1800’s and a growing number of wealthy land owners (haciendados) now resided in the city only visiting their haciendas a few times a year. As more of the moneyed elite took up residence this encouraged more investment in infrastructure and naturally more businesses started up to provide for an increasingly affluent population therefore further improving the economy. La Paz was fast becoming one of the most important cities on the continent. Although well located on the route between several major cities it was still however very isolated. High up in the Andes with poor roads, no railway and a long way from the sea it was a difficult task to import or export goods and more often than not mule trains were still used for the transportation of goods. This isolation not doubt hindered growth to some degree.
1879 and a war with Chile over the coastal area rich in guano (a nitate rich bird dung highly valued at the time) resulted in Bolivia losing its coastal area to Chile. Isolating La Paz even more this would has disastrous long term effect for Bolivia and is still a very sort point amongst Bolivians today.
La Paz became the seat of government and the administrative capital of the country in 1898 (Sucre remained the judicial capital) which spurred further growth of the city. Today this is a point of contention between Sucre and La Paz as both cities see themselves as the capital of the country.
